Monday, January 26, 2015

Color was easier to pin down on this.. I think everyone had a like-minded notion of the materials those little boxtrolls used to create this thing, it was more a matter of calling out which specific materials went where. This painting eventually called out (more or less) each specific piece that they used to assemble it (I'm sure Leigh and the other painters would argue I missed quite a few). It's pretty amazing that the final thing had fully functional wonky gears, pulleys, lights, switches, buttons, and levers. Quite a bit of math and engineering had to go into actually making that work.

A few things I can call out... snatcher hits a button up top that turns on a big fan box on its left side.. its what creates the suction in its left arm for grabbing Boxtrolls. We also did work out what all the controls do in the cockpit, but I'm pretty sure no one person would be capable of piloting it (more likely something like a tank crew would be more appropriate). I did actually create a way for water to go from the left arm into the furnace (the redhats load coal in from a back door that funnels into it). Lastly, I kept the inside of the cage black to not make it too hard to read, but also to hide what happens when Eggs mysteriously wakes up in Snatcher's factory with different clothing on. Maybe this is why Herbert says jelly all the time?

Also there's been some great news! First off, we got an Oscar Nomination! Also, you can now buy it on Blu Ray!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

So hopefully you've seen The Boxtrolls by now. If not I guess this is a little bit of a spoiler. Michel and Tom worked on this guy for quite some time before the story dictated what the final design needed to be. Eventually I got to mess around with it too and came up with this turnaround - it's these drawings they used to build from. Definitely not the best turnaround from a technical standpoint but this was a pretty difficult task.

At one point the drill was even a mechanized version of a rat - Snatcher had a pet rat that would pilot it. In the end it's more like a demented, horrific boxtroll with fire coming from its mouth.

Working with the team on this was insanely rewarding. So many different departments had to come together to make this thing happen. It might be a fool's errand to call out the people who helped build this but I'd like to try:

The real thing is as huge! Definitely comparable to a person when its legs are extended... and definitely too heavy for a single person to lift. But if that still interests you, it'd make a really good conversation starter in your living room.